Once upon a time, Brett Emerton and Mile Sterjovski started together against Brazil in front of a packed house at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
This week, though, you could find the Socceroos legends in the bright sunshine of Sydney's west, huddled over a Valentine Sports Park fence casting their eyes over the next generation of Australia's football talent on the very fields they once played on as teenagers.
Such is the gravitas of this Emerging Socceroos Championships, that this is the calibre of the eyes watching on, with even more attention now that we're at the business end, with Friday's two grand finals pitting Western Australia against NSW Navy in the Under-16s, and NSW Sky v Queensland Maroon in the Under-15s.
Move a few metres at the venue and you will see an Australian football identity - be it the heavyweights from Football Australia's national or technical departments, from Trevor Morgan, to Ian Crook, Josh Kennedy, Tony Franken or Gary Moretti, to household names like Nick Carle, one of the scouts engaged by FA for this tournament, referees boss Jon Moss, key Member Fed personnel like Paul Trimboli, Tony Pignata or Jamie Harnwell, former stars turned footballing parent, like Robbie Middleby, as well as A-League clubs running the rule over prospective talent.
Socceroos boss Tony Popovic was there on Wednesday evening as well, making a presentation to A and Pro Licence coaches.
"I'm loving it," Socceroos legend Emerton said.
"Really interesting watching some of the young emerging talent here at the tournament.
"At the end of the day, they're our future of football, it's a big interest to me.
"And from what I've seen so far, the future of the game is in decent hands."
While Emerton had coached a few of the players featuring in the tournament, he was otherwise coming in with a clean slate to provide scouting reports for Football Australia.
"(The tournament) allows people like myself and others who are here scouting the players to recognise players who potentially have a future at national team level and understanding, where we need to improve and the types of players we need to develop. Also how individual players deal with the pressures of tournament football."
He continued: "I come in eyes wide open. A lot of the players outside of New South Wales I have never laid eyes on before. So that's really nice to come here and see the quality of players in other states."
Sterjovski, who attended the Emerging Matildas Championships as a dad, with his daughter Lilly participating, was there as not just an interested spectator but with his hat as Macarthur's A-League coach as well.
"Definitely look at those types of plays but we also already have players from our academy playing in these tournaments so it's good to keep tabs on them and I think it's great to see players in this kind of environment," he said.
"This is what it's all about - to play for the national team it's about playing in big tournaments and it's good to see who can handle the pressure."
He added: "From what I've seen, there's definitely a lot of good talent. It's all about fine margins now. I think every player that's been selected in these teams is here for a reason. But to make it to the next level, it's all about the fine margins and being consistent and trying to find that consistency."
Scouting and development is happening in a number of areas.
For the goalkeepers, Australian coaching legend Tony Franken was in the house on Wednesday, but Olyroos coach Neil Tete has been casting his eye over things through the week.
"In both the 15's and 16's we're seeing some goalkeepers with fantastic physical attributes. And even though some of those might not be ready yet for the Joeys, but we know long term they're going to be really good for Australian football and possibly the young Socceroos and the Socceroos in the future," he observed.
"We're not expecting perfect goalkeepers here so we know they're going to make mistakes and they're not going to get everything right but also we've been really pleased with their mentality so they're responding well to mistakes and you can see that the coaches that working with them from the member feds are doing a top job and the goalkeepers are, yeah, they're a working progress."
Tete is dividing the keepers into those who he'll recommend to the Joeys, and those who are future prospects. What areas are they looking for in a position where, at this age, many will yet to have the growth spurt that becomes so critical in their position?
"Some of them are defensive goalkeeping behaviours, so they might be shot-stopping or dealing with crosses or dealing one-on-ones and then we've got what happens when the team's got the ball," he said. "So their distribution, can they start counter-attacks, can they play through a press and then gradually we find a profile of each of the keepers - they might be really strong in this part but they need to work on this part."
The same goes with the referees.
"Everyone here is between 18 and 21 years old...we thought it was fitting to put them in tournament environment and I think they've done a great job," FA's Head of Referees Jon Moss explained.
"There are some things we talk about at night in our debrief, this is a great opportunity to learn. They've been outstanding."
The likes of Alex King and Adam Kersey were on the park as well giving pep talks and instructions to the referee, before the group debriefs at night to run through everything from "managing a wall to dealing with a mass confrontation".
On the penultimate day of competition, in the Under-15's, Lucas Krenek’s 43rd minute winner put Queensland Maroon into the decider, edging Victoria Blue 2-1, while NSW Sky flexed against Queensland White, with Jacob Sousa, Samuel Hassarati, Aaron Roussos, Revan Jamwal, Georgiou Harpur and Max Smith enjoying getting on the scoresheet in a 6-0 whitewash.
In the Under-16's, NSW Navy ended Northern NSW's eye catching campaign and it took a moment of individual brilliance from Zoravar Singh down the left to open the scoring, flying down the wing before squeezing a shot in at the near post after dancing into the box. Dimitri Staveris sealed the result in the second stanza.
They'll meet Neil Kilkenny's Western Australia in the final, with Jack English’s first half strike enough for the well organised, committed team to leave South Australia unable to find a way through.
With Carl Veart's Under-17s in action in Asia at the same time, the pathway for these 16-year-olds has never been clearer, with so many standout performers from last year's tournament, now involved with that squad.
As the Championships reaches the business end, the scouts watching on are building a depth chart of players to recommend to Veart as preparations ramp up for the Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia in May, which also acts as the World Cup Qualifying path too, where the top eight teams will progress to the tournament in Qatar.
Under-20s coach Trevor Morgan, leading the scouting in Veart's place this week, said he's seen plenty of evidence of "players making great decisions".
"I've seen a couple of players who, with or without the ball judge the game very well and are very decisive," he said.
"They show good personal characteristics, they get knocked over they get up quickly, they work, they don't criticise their teammates, they give good instructions. It is actually seeing someone with the right mentality to perform in high competitive environments."
That environment goes to the Championship level on Friday, when the grand finals take place. The Under-15s is at 10.30am, with the Under-16s at 12.30pm.
HOW TO WATCH
KommunityTV is your destination for exclusive live streams of the 2026 CommBank Emerging Championships with News Corp full digital subscribers having exclusive access to watch the action.
Every match will be available to watch live and on demand. Live streams of all fields will be available for each day of the tournament, with replays posted at the end of each day.
FIXTURES & RESULTS
The Tournament Hub has all the competitions and results while the Tournament Guide features all the groups, fixtures and key information.
Stay tuned to Football Australia's website, Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok for updates and social coverage.
This article was originally published on football360.com.au